


Maps

by tatooedlaura



Series: Life [4]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: X-Files OctoberFicFest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 17:57:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8411041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tatooedlaura/pseuds/tatooedlaura
Summary: Maps were meant to be explored ...





	

**Author's Note:**

> sequel to “Mama Scully’s Party” and “Morning” and “Underwears”

After numerous mouthfuls of marshmallow, they consumed salad and sushi, then Mulder watched her find a map of the South Pacific on his shelf.

She’d noticed it while examining which of his aquarium fish had made it through the week and which had disappeared down the swirling coffin of death …

“The what?”

Scully gave him a grin, “that’s what Charlie called it when we were kids. We moved around so much but we wanted a pet so mom and dad decided fish were a good stop-gap for a dog or cat. Easily bought and easily disposed of when their inevitable death occurred. We’d find one dead, Charlie would fish it out, walked quietly down the hall to the bathroom, humming his own version of a dirge and then, once we’d all gathered around the toilet, he’d flip the net, drop him in, flush him down, say his farewell, then move on with life.”

“And you call me weird.”

“We had to have flushed at least 20 of them growing up and those are just the ones that we knew about. I swear I’d come home from school sometimes and there was a new fish in the tank. It looked almost like the one it replaced but I wasn’t going to be the one pointing it out so we carried on until the next funeral.”

“All of you … crazy.”

Still smiling, she looked up to the books on the higher shelves, then pulled down a skinny volume, “what’s with the South Pacific map? Planning a trip?”

“Found it in a bookstore around the corner, actually. Always wanted to see Australia and the kangaroos.” Speaking up at her from his comfy corner of the couch, “ever wanted to go?”

“Never thought about it, really. I mean, it always seemed so far away and you can’t take a family of six on a trip like that.” Looking first at the food covered coffee table, then at the hard, unforgiving floor, she turned on her heel and trekked towards the bedroom, “I’m using your bed for this.”

Instantly interested, he hoisted himself up to follow, “and what exactly are we using the bed for?”

“Comfortable surface.” Moving into the room, she absently pulled the sheets up, straightening them from their disgruntled twistedness, before climbing on, “I want to see where I’m going to go when I win the lottery.”

“Ahh.” Settling himself beside her, “where should we start?”

Looking at him out of the corner of her eye, her mouth twinged upward in the ghostly hint of a smile, “we?”

With a goofy grin of his own, “I’ll buy the tickets, you scratch ‘em. We’ll call it even.”

After shaking her head in amusement, she leaned sideways just enough to rest her elbow on his upper thigh, hand encasing his knee for a moment before leaving her wrist against him as she pointed to the map, “I say we fly to Fiji first and get out fill of beaches and liquor before we do anything else.”

He’d agreed to a trip to hell, outer space without a suit and the dentist office without Novocain at that moment but he kept himself steady, “beaches and liquor would be good.”

After unspecified amounts of time traveling the map, going so far as to pull out Mulder’s laptop and look up things to see and sites to visit, before Scully sat back against the headboard, “you realize we can’t let all this planning go to waste. You need to go buy me those lottery tickets right now.”

“Can it at least wait until morning?”

Settling her head on his shoulder, “I guess it can.” From her position, she now had her socked toe under the edge of the paper and began absently lifting it up, until finally she just flipped the corner over, “what’s on the other side? More indulgent, exotic vacation spots?”

Not wanting to move her from him, he did some circus-type acrobatics with his feet and got the map within reach of his hands. Turning it over completely, “oddly enough, a map of the United States, ‘cause that makes perfect sense on the back of a map of nowhere near the United States.”

With a not-so-subtle snort, Scully pulled the paper the rest of the way towards her, “have you ever stopped to think about how many places we’ve been, Mulder?”  
“Well, today alone I’ve been on your mom’s back porch, your old bedroom, my couch and the kitchen.”

For this, he received a light elbow in the side before she left his warm shoulder to lean forward, “I have an urge to mark everywhere we’ve been.” Looking back at him, “do you care if I write on this?”

“Go for it.” Shifting to his side for a moment, he shuffled through the crap on his nightstand, resurfacing with a red pen and a thoroughly warm feeling from the leverage of her hand on his knee keeping him from rolling off the mattress. “Enjoy.”

Completely gleeful at her upcoming project, she popped the top from the pen and squinted up near Washington, “where the hell is Klamath Falls?”

They sat together like this for hours, Scully hunched at first with Mulder quietly rubbing her back from neck to waist, sometimes circles, sometimes lines, sometimes with just his fingers making random patterns. He shut his eyes when he had to sort through his mental filing system to retrieve geographical information for her but otherwise he kept them open, studying her unabashedly in the light of the warmly dim lamp. Eventually, she shifted, leaving his touch to lay beside him, knees on his pillow, feet folded against the headboard. Since his hand now fell within perfect reach of her ass, he slid forward a little, removing temptation before it got too late and too hard to resist. With his hand once again on her back, he began lightly massaging her shoulders and neck, making sure to keep a steady rhythm while he squinted at the tiny towns in the middle of Kansas.

Finally, both were silent for a few minutes until, “I can’t remember anymore, Mulder. How about you?”

His brain was spent at this point, “I’m done but I think we got most of them.” Sliding off the bed, he disappeared into the living room for a second, returning with the roll of masking tape he still kept by his front window. Beckoning her to help him, he taped the map to the wall, covering a few photos in the process but soon, standing back, “there you go. Six years of insanity categorized and easily referenced for your viewing pleasure.” She remained silent for long enough to make him wonder, “why so quiet?”

“Look at it, Mulder. That’s six years of lives saved and lost, broken bones, stitches, bad diner food, excellent diner food, lumpy motel mattresses and shit that scared even you.”

“We have had a time, haven’t we?” Deciding it was too late in the night for her to kill him, he shifted behind her, timidly sliding his arms around her upper body, pulling her against him lightly as he looked over her shoulder at the map, cheek against hers, “but to be totally cliché about it, it hasn’t been all that bad, has it?”  
“No.” Shaking her head and swaying side to side slightly, taking Mulder with her on her little dance, “not bad at all.”

Mulder glanced at his watch, “did you know it’s almost 4am?”

As she shook her head, her face brushed against his scratchy two day old beard, “that explains why I’m ready to fall asleep.”

“Want to crash here?”

He could feel her face pulling up into a smile but there was no indication of it when she stopped moving and broke away, turning towards him, “it would save me from dying on the way home.”

“Well, we don’t need that.” Thumbing behind him, “you can sleep in here. Just ignore the collection of dirty socks at the foot of the bed. I tend to kick them off during the night.”

“Why do you wear them to bed then?”

“My feet get cold.”

With that, she hugged him around the waist, “you are the very best Mulder I know.”

“Thanks. I think.”

Still squeezing him, “and you can sleep in here with me. That couch is creaky and every time you roll over, it’ll wake me up.”

Without another word, he flipped the lights off, “need pajamas?”

“I’ll steal some sweatpants on the way to the bathroom.” Escaping his arms, “I get left side.” He’d give her whatever side she wanted, left, right, top, bottom but remaining silent, he was under the covers and dozing when she snuggled up next to him, “thanks for not kicking me out.”

“Too tired to kick anything.” Suddenly he felt her lips on his cheek, “what’s that for?”

It was too dark for him to see her blush, “’cause I like you a little bit.”

“Just a little bit?”

“A little bit more than a little bit.”

“G’night, partner.”

Nose snuggled deep in the pillow, she smiled as his stocking feet found her leg, running his toes along her calf, “g’night.”

&&&&&&&&&&&

Mulder half-expected to wake up in some contortiony conglomeration with Scully but when he opened his eyes, he found himself staring at her feet. Lifting his head an inch or so, her butt wrapped in his sweatpants became his next view. Enjoying this one longer than he probably should have, he allowed himself a small, indulgent fantasy before finally pushing himself up on his elbows, looking down the bed at her, propped up, book in front of her, “why are you awake?”

“It’s almost noon. My body doesn’t know how to let me sleep any later than 9am and even that’s pushing it.”

“You’ve been laying there for three hours? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

Tossing a look of pure, relaxed joy in his direction, “I was enjoying you sleeping next to me.”

Contented warmth spread over him and he shifted to lay beside her, “what are you reading?”

“Poseidon Adventure.”

He bunched his pillow underneath his head and wiggling in for comfort, “read to me.”

And she did.


End file.
